Paige Swanstein is Helping College Students Access Public Benefits with AI

Paige Swanstein is on a mission to make sure students don’t have to choose between their education and their next meal.

Paige experienced this dilemma firsthand, working three jobs in college but still skipping meals to make ends meet. At North Carolina State University, she studied how campus food and housing can impact graduation rates and economic mobility.

The findings compelled her to found Student Basic Needs Coalition (SBNC), an AI-powered nonprofit that helps college students access vital public benefits. SBNC’s end-to-end benefits screener “Navvy” lets students check their eligibility for benefits like SNAP and Medicaid, and then provides them with a clear action plan on how to apply for these programs.

In this interview, Paige discusses how AI is scaling access to benefits, rebuilding trust in public systems, and centering the human experience.

How did your journey inspire you to explore AI for humanity?

When I started college, I somehow ended up as an administrator of a Slack group for the Class of 2021. Every day, students would ask the same questions: Where do I find my academic advisor? How do I get help paying for food? What time does the dining hall close? I became the person who could find answers, but I started wondering why the resources themselves were so difficult to find.

At the same time, I had just picked up a third job my freshman year to help make ends meet. This role was, ironically, working as a research assistant conducting interviews with students experiencing food and housing insecurity, issues I faced myself. Students juggling jobs, coursework, and financial stress didn't have time to navigate a maze of websites, offices, eligibility requirements, and paperwork. Similarly, faculty and staff didn’t have time to direct students to resources.

I started training student leaders, called peer navigators, to do a more robust version of what I did in our Slack group. Those peer navigators held resource fairs, advocated for expanded support, and informed faculty and staff about what available resources they could share with their students. As AI became more capable and reliable, I saw an opportunity to help people navigate complex systems at a larger scale.

Trust is essential for students to even consider public benefits. How does the Student Basic Needs Coalition approach building not only an AI-powered solution for economic mobility, but a safe space where students can access these benefits?

Building trust starts with helping students understand that these programs exist to support people in exactly their situation and designing an experience that feels approachable. Only a third of students eligible for public benefits are enrolled. Students often believe public benefits aren't for "people like them." Many assume they won't qualify, worry about stigma, or feel overwhelmed by the application process. We work closely with colleges and students to continuously learn what prevents students from seeking support so we can build tools and messaging that meet them where they are.

Beyond this, students have learned that submitting an application is difficult and they might not be approved anyway. There’s a lot of work to be done to rebuild trust and rebuild the system itself so it actually serves students. We tackle this by co-designing with students and campuses, ensuring that our tools address the reasons students aren’t enrolling in benefits, as opposed to adding another layer of complexity.

Peer navigators also play a critical role in how the Student Basic Needs Coalition interacts with students. What is your philosophy on determining where humans fit into your solution versus where AI fits in?

I don't believe AI should replace human support. AI is incredibly effective at helping students get answers quickly, navigate complex systems, and access support whenever they need it. Humans are better at building trust, understanding nuance, and helping students work through unique situations. Our philosophy is that AI should scale human support, allowing campus staff and peer navigators to spend less time answering repetitive questions and more time helping students overcome barriers that require empathy, judgment, and lived experience.

What core values drive your unique vision for impact in an AI-driven future?

Simple is better. Technology is at its best when it simplifies complicated processes and does not add arbitrary steps. When people are worried about how they’ll pay for gas to get to class or how they’ll cover their next doctor’s appointment, they don’t need another tracking tool. They need to know what resources they qualify for. They need help navigating the process. And they need confidence that they’ll actually receive support in the end.

Similarly, AI is only as powerful as the information behind it. Of course, students could use ChatGPT to help apply for benefits. But that isn’t tailored to their specific situation and may not accurately represent the nuances of student eligibility. This year, SBNC is building a continuous feedback loop to learn from our students and partners, using those findings to improve the quality of our tool.

We also center the human experience. To understand the bottlenecks in student and partner experiences, we consistently talk to them. This ensures that we deliver solutions grounded in their unique needs. Technology organizations have a responsibility to co-design with people they serve.

One lesson I’ve learned as a founder is that lived experience can help you identify a problem, but it doesn’t eliminate the need to keep learning. Students’ experiences change and institutions face different challenges each year. Continuous listening, learning, and adaptation are key.

Which visionary leaders, philosophies, or movements give you hope for a more human-centered AI future?

I’m incredibly inspired by the way communities are taking AI into their own hands. The best person to design an AI tool will always be someone who experienced that problem firsthand, paired with flexible investments and targeted support. Across the country, I see students, social workers, and nonprofit leaders move from consuming technology to shaping their workflows and building the tools they need.

By being part of Fast Forward and other founder communities, I’ve met people using AI to tackle challenges they actually lived, whether that’s as a science teacher building resources for a culturally informed curriculum or a former congress staffer creating tools to make advocacy more accessible. It gives me hope to see builders who can’t look away from a problem and relentlessly move toward the future they envision.

What is your 7-word autobiography?

Building what I needed: access for students.